The Development of Reading Accuracy and Reading Rate during Treatment of Dyslexia

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to provide a window on the processes by which the accuracy and rate of reading develop during psycholinguistic treatment for dyslexia. In experiment 1, 140 children with dyslexia followed a treatment method that presented them with a learning system that clarifies the basic elements and operations by which one’s writing system encodes the characteristics of the spoken language system. The results revealed that during the first half of treatment most progress was made on reading accuracy, which gradually transformed into a more prominent (or pronounced) improvement in the reading rate during the second half of treatment. Experiment 2 examined the reading of 46 individuals with dyslexia after termination of their treatment. It was shown that following mastering of the reading system the reading rate, as opposed to reading accuracy, continues to improve. These findings are discussed vis‐à‐vis the remediation of reading fluency.